We are hearing a lot of chatter about the new forms.  Different schools are doing different things but officially the Dept of Education is claiming there is a new policy and saying it is “opt in”.

The form that came home with my daughter reads like a “pitch” for SRI, giving the impression that this is the expected activity for the kids, it uses the following text:

  1. Complements lesson themes and current departmental policy
  2. builds on the VELS as they relate to the physical, personal and social learning strand
  3. helps children explore their own lives for meaning and purpose
  4. introduces children to the religious life and ideas of their community
  5. provides some understanding of the stories, festivals, worship, and symbols of the Christian faith in the community
  6. respects children’s rights to uphold their own opinions while providing a broader understanding of this major influence on contemporary Australian culture.

These bullet points are classic doublespeak (in red is the unwritten subtext):

  • Complements lesson themes and current departmental policy
    This is part of the school program – it is what we suggest 
  • builds on the VELS as they relate to the physical, personal and social learning strand
    This is part of the school program – it is what we suggest 
  • helps children explore their own lives for meaning and purpose
    As a bonus to aid in this exploration, we have answers to these questions!
  • introduces children to the religious life and ideas of their community
    by religious life of your community, we mean the religious lives of volunteers from ACCESS Ministries, who are “the hand of God in working in our schools.
    The religious life of people in our community who grew up places like Bengal or Punjab,  will not be covered.  
  • provides some understanding of the stories, festivals, worship, and symbols of the Christian faith in the community
    Did you know that a swimming class will expose you some of the properties of liquids? 
  • respects children’s rights to uphold their own opinions while providing a broader understanding of this major influence on contemporary Australian culture.
    Your child won’t have to agree with what her CRE teacher says, we can’t make her be right!

The other part about this program is that while it is said that it is “opt in”, it is not – it says tick yes or no and sign the form, and at the bottom it says, you can withdraw from the class at any time by notifying the school in writing.

I plan to do an experiment.  I am not going to return the form.

What will happen is that the school will call me and ask me to respond, at which point I’m going to ask “why do you want me to give you an answer, I thought the program was “opt in”, that would mean that you don’t need a response from me, and that my daughter won’t be in SRI unless I enroll her!?!

I’m sure that the last time my bank offered me a credit card and I tossed it in the bin, that my bank assumed I did not agree to get a credit card.